BLAKE Explorers has been successfully piloted in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, offering an unforgettable three-day immersive experience for intermediate-aged students. As a reminder, we invite a school that has experienced NZ-VR to select 20 students and 2 teachers...

The day before we returned to Wellington I saw the mainland for the first time in 1 month. We cruised up the south island and past Kaikoura, watching sun rays filtering through clouds - a welcome light after a stormy morning. A pod of ~30 common dolphins swam around...

Kia ora, I’m Lottie –  I’m doing my postgrad in Geology at the University of Canterbury, Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha. As the 2024 Blake GNS Ambassador, I got the opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes in a major research project around Whakaari. Safe to say...

On it’s 20th anniversary, BLAKE (formerly the Sir Peter Blake Trust) is celebrating two decades of work dedicated to empowering New Zealanders to commit to a sustainable future for Aotearoa and continuing the environmental leadership legacy of one of the world’s most...

I first heard of the BLAKE NZ-VR programme at BLAKE Inspire for Teachers that I was fortunate enough to attend in September 2022. The whole Inspire programme was inspirational in the way it supported the development of new understandings, interwoven with practical...

Kia ora, I’m Grace - a Master’s of Science graduate from the Waikato. As this year’s NIWA freshwater representative for the BLAKE Ambassadorship programme, I got to take a peek at some of the key research projects taking place within NIWA’s aquatic pollution...

Westpac representative Kate Archer went on the adventure of a lifetime – she joined a BLAKE Expedition to the sub-Antarctic’s with BLAKE and the Royal New Zealand Navy. Now back from her adventure, Kate shares her experience with us. After three years of planning, my...

Tūrangawaewae is the Māori concept of place. It means standing place (tūranga) and feet (waewae); and is translated as 'a connection to the place you stand, a sense of belonging'. This concept is the foundation for BLAKE’s newest programme, BLAKE Explorers. BLAKE...

This past summer I had the incredible opportunity to spend six weeks in Antarctica, spending a month undertaking fieldwork in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. I was working alongside worldclass researchers trying to solve some of the countless uncertainties attached to our...

Moody clouds and mist slowly sift through the bush as small rain showers pass through Dusky Sound. The water is still, reflecting the mountains encircling our small vessel, the Polaris II. The mountains stand stoically, marked with rugged outcrops and bush-caped...

Together with the Ministry for the Environment, in 2022 we supported over 120 young people through our BLAKE Inspire programmes! In April and October, we brought our delegates to the Waikato region where they experienced opportunities to learn more about freshwater...